Judge sends major Bad-Faith case back to Philadelphia Court

A federal judge has remanded a major bad-faith lawsuit against Allstate Insurance Co., back to Philadelphia Common Pleas Court in the second legal win in the case this month for Matt Casey, a founding partner of Ross Feller Casey.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence F. Stengel of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania agreed with Casey that the case, stemming from an auto accident that produced a $19.1 million jury verdict, should be heard in the common pleas court.

Stengel ruled that even though Allstate is based in Illinois, the case centered on the bad faith actions of four of its Pennsylvania agents.

Among other things, Casey has alleged that those agents worked to block payment of the initial $250,000 policy claim of his client, Patrick Hennessy.

Hennessy lost his leg as a result of an accident while trying to push his friend's car to the side of a Philadelphia road in 2009. Earlier this month, the Philadelphia trial judge in the case upheld the verdict and awarded delay damages, bringing the total award to $20.2 million.

Casey told The Legal Intelligencer newspaper in an article today that "We have already begun the discovery process and will now depose everyone involved in adjusting this claim."

Casey added that he has "every intention of collecting both the full judgment, with interest, as well as damages to deter Allstate from ever treating its millions of other" policy holders the way it did in this case.

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